Monahans man pleads guilty in oil-theft scheme

A 33-year-old Monahans man faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in an oil-theft scheme, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.

David Schroeder pleaded guilty Thursday -- before U.S. Magistrate Davd Counts in Midland -- to three counts of theft from an interstate shipment for the theft of oil, which was valued at $58,000.

Schroeder admitted that on three separate occasions he stole oil from different Permian Basin companies, according to the release:

-- on Nov. 13, 2013, he took oil from Williams Oil Co. in Crane County;

-- on Nov. 27, 2013, he took a truckload of oil from Devon Energy in Crane County; and

-- on Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2013, he used a stolen vacuum truck and trailer to take five tankerloads (approximately 520 barrels) of oil from a Whiting Petroleum lease in Ward County.

In all three instances, the oil was delivered to Itero Energy in Monahans for payment, according to the release. Investigators discovered Schroeder had left four tickets, each documenting a separate tanker load delivered to Itero’s site. The tickets likely would have led to Itero’s payment for the oil deliveries, according to the release.

A Ward County Sheriff’s deputy investigating a report of a stolen vacuum truck on Itero’s site saw Schroeder off-loading oil and attempted to question him. After a brief altercation with the deputy, Schroeder fleed the scene in a stolen vehicle, but he was apprehended later that morning in Monahans.

Schroeder remains in federal custody pending sentencing, scheduled for April 10 before U.S. District Judge Robert A. Junell.